Sam Altman calls AI 'non-negotiable,' comparing it to electricity as 39% of Americans say it ...

Sam Altman calls AI 'non-negotiable,' comparing it to electricity as 39% of Americans say it does more harm than good Eric Esposito Tue, September 8, 2026 at 11:40 PM GMT+8 5 min read Matt Ramey/AFP via Getty Images Does Sam Altman see himself as today's Thomas Edison? Although the OpenAI CEO didn't mention "The Wizard of Menlo Park" in his G20 address, he frequently compared AI's significance to electricity. Must Read Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake. Here's what it is and 3 simple steps to fix it ASAP The tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028. Here are 4 moves to make before the window closes Speaking at the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Altman told attendees, "I think it would be approximately as bad of an idea to say we're not going to have AI in our country as it was to say we're not going to have electricity in our country, you know, back 100 plus years ago." For Altman, adding artificial intelligence to a nation's infrastructure today isn't just a "nice-to-have" competitive advantage — it's a requirement. As Altman explained, "I think it is non-negotiable that you have to use it [AI]," adding that "the economic growth and benefit to people that can come from this, the value to a country, is too high to ignore." Other tech luminaries such as Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also pumped up the prospects of AI at the recent G20 event. As The Wall Street Journal reported, a common thread in all these presentations was a call for sensible regulation that won't stifle AI's benefits. Or, as Huang put it, "Don't regulate hypothetical, theoretical harm." To help shape this more favorable regulatory framework, countries at G20 adopted the " Carolina Principles ," which emphasize flexibility rather than harsh enforcement. Under these points, countries should use existing regulations and only create new AI-specific rules for "novel considerations that existing legal frameworks cannot adequately address." The Carolina Principles also encourage lots of funding for AI research, including "flexible regulatory sandboxes and experimental exemptions" for AI labs. Cybersecurity: AI's stumbling block? Although most executives painted a pretty picture for AI's potential, a few acknowledged legitimate potential dangers. According to the WSJ, Altman and Google DeepMind's co-founder Demis Hassabis said AI could pose a significant cybersecurity threat if leaders aren't careful. As CNBC reported , Altman said, "I think some things are going to go very wrong with cybersecurity unless people act quite urgently." If countries fail to put the right safeguards in place pronto, he argued it "could set this technology back a great deal." Story Continues Altman's comments come a few months after OpenAI made headlines for a security crisis where its agents hacked internal systems and the AI platform Hugging Face. Read More: Vanguard reveals what's coming for U.S. stocks — and it could be bad news for this group of investors Speaking with PBS NewsHour, NYU Professor and AI Researcher Gary Marcus placed the blame solely on OpenAI's lax security protocols . "OpenAI really screwed up here," Marcus said, adding that "The monitoring was very weak on OpenAI's part. It was not really industry standard for what we expect of cybersecurity." And OpenAI's data breach wasn't a one-off issue. Other companies like Anthropic and Meta announced similar unsanctioned attacks from their agents this year. Moneywise reached out to OpenAI for further comment but didn't hear back by the time of publication. Americans aren't excited about AI Another threat to AI's ascendancy that many leaders brought up at G20 was the intense public resistance. As AI tools become ubiquitous, it seems more people are turned off by this technology. For instance, Gallup's data between 2025 and 2026 shows the percentage of Americans who think AI "does more harm than good" rose from 31% to 39% . Earlier this year, Gallup discovered that data centers were one of the most hated aspects of the AI ecosystem, with seven in ten respondents saying they oppose these facilities in their communities. To address these concerns, G20 presenters spent most of their time arguing against what they viewed as misconceptions surrounding data centers. As CNBC reported, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said data centers would bring " prosperity to those communities " and assured residents that "they're going to bring down the cost of power in that community, and they're going to bring, because they're going to create tremendous tax revenue." Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown also tried to get people on board with data centers, citing President Trump's recent positive posts on Truth Social . As Brown argued, "the data centers are just an enormous source of prosperity. They produce a ton of jobs. They reduce taxes." Despite these glowing comments, AI companies will probably need to do more PR work to change the popular perception. A more recent YouGov survey shows 51% of respondents still believe building data centers is a " bad thing for the country ," and another 63% say they're ready to oppose one if they catch wind that it's coming to their town. What To Read Next Millionaires under 43 hold only 32% of their wealth in stocks. Here's where their money is actually going Here's the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you keeping up or falling behind? A single line on your car insurance policy could be inflating your premium by up to 30% — here's what to change This fund has historically paid 8% or higher for 25 months — 4 ways to grow your cash without the stock market Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise's best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now . This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Sam Altman calls AI 'non-negotiable,' comparing it to electricity as 39% of Americans say it does more harm than good This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Terms and Privacy Policy Privacy Dashboard More Info